UT power sub-station for better supply lost in maze of admn depts

Even seven months after getting the nod from the union power ministry’s standing committee on power system planning (northern region), UT electricity department’s ambitious project to set up a 220-kilovolt (kv) power sub-station for ensuring uninterrupted and better quality power supply is yet to materialise for want of land.

Even seven months after getting the nod from the union power ministry’s standing committee on power system planning (northern region), UT electricity department’s ambitious project to set up a 220-kilovolt (kv) power sub-station for ensuring uninterrupted and better quality power supply is yet to materialise for want of land.

The department had got the mandatory approval for the new power substation in January 2013. Though the electricity department had sought allotment of the land required for setting up the station after the approval, the file has been shuttling from one office to another, with remarks by one official or the other.

UT departments of architecture and finance are responsible for allotting land. An approval is also required from the estate office.

At present, Chandigarh has only one 220-KV sub-station at Kishangarh. Contacted, UT superintending engineer MP Singh said: “We have forwarded our request and can commence work only after getting the required land.”

He said the new substation would be sufficient to address UT’s power requirements for the next 20 years. Despite repeated attempts, UT chief architect was not available for comment. The decision to set up the sub-station was taken on a recommendation in a study by the Power Grid Corporation of India.

In the study, the corporation had observed that under normal and contingency conditions, some system elements were getting loaded critically. Therefore, there was a need to strengthen transmission system at various points in the city.

The study also highlighted that there was no inter-state transmission system (ISTS) inter-connection available to Chandigarh’s transmission system at present. The connectivity of Chandigarh transmission system with ISTS would help in ensuring reliable power supply to the city.

To strengthen transmission, the department is also contemplating to install a 220-kv line from Sector 47 to a 400/220-KV sub-station of the Power Grid in Panchkula. The study also pointed out that the process of setting up the new sub-station should have been taken up a couple of years ago. For the past few years, city residents have been at the receiving end of frequent power breakdowns. The power requirement of the city is met through central generating power stations of NTPC Limited (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation), NHPC Limited (formerly National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, as determined by the government.

The maximum peak load of Chandigarh is about 363 megawatts (MWs); it is projected at a maximum of 439 MWs by 2016-17. At present, the power load of Chandigarh is fed from Kishangarh-based 3x100 MVA power transformers, SAS Nagar’s 2x80 MVA and 66-KV line from Dhulkote.